It’s taken three months, but Globe Information Services and Torstar have finally consummated their improbable marriage with the launch of Workopolis.com, a jointly owned Internet job board that’s being flogged with a $7-million multimedia campaign.
The redesigned Web site, which replaces the clunky-sounding Globecareers.com, is being positioned as an online ‘community’ for job seekers, one that offers tips on writing resumés and preparing for interviews, in addition to housing the biggest stockpile of Canadian job postings on the Web.
The communal theme is echoed throughout the launch elements, including a billboard execution that has been designed to resemble a road sign. The poster, designed by newly appointed agency of record Ranscombe & Co., reads, ‘Welcome to workopolis.com, Canada’s biggest job site,’ and lists the ‘population’ as 15,000 jobs.
‘The personality will be welcoming, friendly, fun and light,’ explains Jim Ranscombe, president of Ranscombe & Co., which also came up with the name for the new site. ‘We’re not taking the negative approach that Monster [does],’ he adds, referring to the dot-com company’s critically acclaimed ‘When I grow up’ spots that debuted during last year’s Super Bowl. ‘We’re going to be talking to people who are happy with their jobs and want to be happier.’
But if Workopolis hopes to stem the flow of classified ad revenue to Internet job giants like Monster.ca and JobShark.com, it will have to keep up with them on the marketing front – a proposition so costly that it impelled the shotgun marriage of The Globe and Torstar last October.
Torstar, whose holdings include The Toronto Star and The Hamilton Spectator, paid $19 million for a 40% slice of Globecareers.com, giving The Globe the cash it needed to promote the site more aggressively. Just as importantly, the deal doubled the number of job postings on the new site to 15,000 – the most on any Canadian job board – and boosted the online resumé bank to over 160,000, which still trails the 210,000 resumés posted at JobShark (Monster, by comparison, houses 5,000 jobs and 100,000 resumés).
The campaign officially kicked off Jan. 26 with full page ads in The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star, plus transit ads and billboards. A series of 30-second television spots are also being produced, and will air in early February.
Credits:
Client: Workopolis.com
Agency: Ranscombe & Co.
Budget: $7 million
Creative Directors: Jim Ranscombe, Tony Miller
Art Directors: Rick Mayzis, Mark Spalding, Jason Kinsella
Writers: Jim Ranscombe, Tony Miller
Media Direction: Anne Wood
Interactive Strategist: Craig Thompson
Account Service Team: Greg Cromwell, Paul Baillie
Media: Newspaper, television, transit, out-of-home, online, Elevator News Network
Launch Date: Jan. 26, 2000
Length of Run: One year (heavy weights in first two months)
